Contents

History

Sinnoh

Piplup in his debut episode

In Following A Maiden's Voyage!, Piplup got into a fight with the starterChimchar when it stole the last of his food. He caused chaos by using BubbleBeam inside Professor Rowan's lab and then fled in hot pursuit of the Fire-type Pokémon. While chasing Chimchar, Piplup got stuck in a web created by an Ariados. Seeing the situation, Dawn, who had been given the task of finding the runaway starters, came up with a plan to make Ariados destroy its own web, freeing Piplup and making him land safely in her arms. However, Ariados returned accompanied by several of its species and attacked them, leading Dawn and Piplup to work as a team to escape from the attack. Having fought the wild Ariados off and returned to the lab, Dawn chose Piplup as her first Pokémon saying their journey together had already begun.

Piplup battled Nando's Budew in Dawn Of A New Era!. He started the battle with a Peck attack but Budew dodged easily and used Bullet Seed. He managed to avoid the glowing yellow seeds and use BubbleBeam, getting a clean hit. However, the Water-typemove had little effect on the Bud Pokémon. When Nando ordered Budew to use SolarBeam, Dawn thought the move would take a while to charge and had Piplup using Peck. To her surprise, the Sunny Day Budew used before the battle was still in effect and SolarBeam charged immediately, hitting Piplup and rendering him unable to battle.

Piplup made his stage debut in Mounting a Coordinator Assault!, where he was used in the Appeals Round of the Jubilife Contest. He came out of a Foamy Seal and used BubbleBeam to keep the bubbles from the Seal suspended in the air before storing up energy for a Peck. The stored energy made his beak extend and he used the Flying-type attack to explode all the bubbles. With this simple yet remarkable performance, Piplup managed to advance Dawn to the Contest Battles.

Piplup was used in the Battle Round of the Floaroma Contest in Settling a Not-So-Old Score!. His first battle in the event was against Jessie's Dustox, during which he used Bide to return double the damage he took from Poison Sting before knocking the Poison Moth Pokémon out with a Peck attack. After that he was seen defeating a Bagon to advance to the finals of the competition. There he went up against Kenny's Prinplup. They both used BubbleBeam to start the battle and their moves collided in the center of the stadium, creating a shower of sparkles. Piplup proceeded with Peck but Prinplup intercepted with Metal Claw, catching and tossing him into the air. Prinplup then used Drill Peck and Piplup countered the attack with Bide. After recovering, Prinplup used Metal Claw but Piplup dodged and used Whirlpool. The large water vortex engulfed Prinplup, costing Kenny precious points, but was ultimately destroyed by a powerful BubbleBeam. Prinplup followed with Mist to cloak the stage before using Drill Peck and Piplup answered with another Whirlpool. The two Pokémon jumped into the vortex and faced off inside it, with Piplup using Peck and Prinplup using Metal Claw. They then used BubbleBeam again and the time ran out. Piplup won the match by points, giving Dawn her first Ribbon.

In All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go!, Dawn entered Piplup as a Weedle in the Pokémon Dress-Up Contest, an annual cosplay competition organized by the Pokémon Fan Club where Pokémon try to imitate other Pokémon. During his impression, Piplup got a little too excited and used BubbleBeam, a move Weedle cannot learn, thus ruining his chances of winning the event.

In A Stand-Up Sit-Down!, Dawn learned from Zoey that the Hearthome Contest was going to be held under the Double Performance rule. She paired up Piplup and Pachirisu in order to train for this kind of performance and develop some new Contest combinations. She told Pachirisu to use Sweet Kiss and Piplup to use Whirlpool, but things didn't go quite as planned as the large whirlpool covered all the hearts from the Sweet Kiss. She also tried to combine Whirlpool and Discharge, but Pachirisu's Discharge was too powerful and it evaporated Piplup's Whirlpool.

Piplup was used in the Appeals Round of the Hearthome City Pokémon Contest along with Pachirisu in Dawn's Early Night!. He used BubbleBeam to encase the hearts of Pachirisu's Sweet Kiss and his Whirlpool was dissipated in a flash of sparkles by Pachirisu's Discharge. Their performance received positive reviews from thethreejudges but it wasn't impressive enough to advance Dawn to the Contest Battles.

Piplup was used twice in the battling stage of the Wallace Cup. He was first used to battle Kyle's Crawdaunt in the semifinal round. Their battle began in Pruning a Passel of Pals! with a collision of BubbleBeam and Sludge Bomb that cost their Coordinators some points. As the battle continued in the following episode, the two Pokémon jumped in the pool and charged at each other, with Piplup using his Whirlpool to trap Crawdaunt in a vortex. However, his move was taken advantage of when Crawdaunt used Surf, sending him backwards. Crawdaunt proceeded with Dark Pulse, but Piplup avoided the attack with his spinning dodge technique and used Bide to absorb the energy from the two purple beams. When Crawdaunt jumped in the air to strike Piplup with a Crabhammer, Piplup released the absorbed energy, hitting the Rogue Pokémon and causing it to fall into the water just as the time ran out. Piplup won the battle on points, allowing Dawn to advance to the final round.

Battling May's Glaceon

In Strategy with a Smile!, Dawn used Piplup in the finals of the Wallace Cup, where he went up against May's Glaceon. He started with BubbleBeam, but the Ice-type Pokémon dodged and used Secret Power, paralyzing him. The battle proceeded with Glaceon using Ice Shard, which hit the paralyzed Piplup hard. After that, Piplup jumped in the pool to get rid of the paralysis. When out of the water, he used Whirlpool, but Glaceon received the attack with Mirror Coat and returned it to him, sending him flying backwards. Piplup quickly recovered and used BubbleBeam again, this time hitting Glaceon. When the Fresh Snow Pokémon used Shadow Ball, Piplup spun and dodged it. Glaceon then decided to take advantage of the water covering the stage and attack with Secret Power to try and put Piplup to sleep. Despite being hit and sent flying in the air, Piplup was able to spin gracefully and land in a pose, rendering Glaceon's attack unsuccessful. Glaceon fired another Shadow Ball but Piplup used BubbleBeam once more, destroying it. Piplup followed with Peck, but Glaceon dodged and used Ice Shard. The icy projectiles did not hit Piplup, though, as he used Whirlpool to defend himself. With only one minute left on the clock, Dawn and May had the same amount of points. Piplup then charged at Glaceon surfing in his own Whirlpool. Before Piplup could reach it, Glaceon used Shadow Ball to destroy the Whirlpool, creating a curtain of water. Taking advantage of the situation, Piplup came out from behind the curtain and used BubbleBeam, surprising Glaceon, who then used another Shadow Ball. Piplup destroyed the shadowy blob with a Peck attack, creating a dark purple curtain. This time, it was Glaceon who took advantage of the curtain, using Ice Shard to strike Piplup. Piplup used Whirlpool one last time and Glaceon once again countered with Mirror Coat. Both Pokémon were hit by the water from the Whirlpool and the time ran out. Piplup won the match by points, breaking Dawn's losingstreak and giving her the Aqua Ribbon, her second ContestRibbon overall.

While exploring the ferry from Iron Island to Chocovine Town in Cheers on Castaways Isle!, Piplup was kidnapped by Team Rocket and taken to their Magikarp Submarine along with Pikachu. When the sub was dragged away by a strong current, the two Pokémon ended up on an island located in Diablo's Ocean. There, they helped the local Pokémon to collect pieces of rocks to put them around a crystal that fell from the sky one stormy night. When they gathered enough rocks, Team Rocket appeared to capture them again, but Dawn and Ash arrived on the island just in time to prevent this. At that moment the crystal glowed brightly and turned into a Deoxys. Team Rocket tried to capture it, but the mythical Pokémon destroyed their sub, sending them blasting off. After this adventurous day, Piplup and Pikachu returned to their Trainers.

Resisting his evolution

When Piplup was about to train with Dawn's other Pokémon in Stopped in the Name of Love!, he collapsed from exhaustion, worrying Dawn. Soon after, he started to evolve into Prinplup. However, he used Bide to stop the process and collapsed again. As a result, Brock rushed him to the Pokémon Center, where Nurse Joy explained he just needed some rest. Later, when Dawn was talking to him, he started to evolve again. She told him to let it happen this time, but he used Bide to discontinue the process. As she questioned his motives and spoke to him about the pros of evolving, he got angry and fled the Center. Dawn followed him through the woods, but he kept running away from her, angry at her for not understanding his unwillingness to evolve. While running, he got caught in a web. Dawn tried to help him, but an Ariados appeared and attacked her. The attack destroyed the web and freed Piplup, who landed in Dawn's arms. After that, several Ariados appeared and attacked them with Hyper Beam, but Piplup used Bide to send them flying, just like the day he and Dawn first met. Making matters worse, Team Rocket appeared and captured Piplup. While trying to retrieve her Pokémon, Dawn learned that past events have motivated Piplup to stay the way he is. This made Dawn realize that on the day she chose Piplup, he chose her as well. After sending Team Rocket blasting off, they returned to the Center, where Nurse Joy gave Dawn an Everstone to prevent Piplup's evolution for as long as he wants.

In Three Sides to Every Story!, Piplup fell in love with Lulu's Marill. However, a wild Elekid was also competing for her affections. When the three Pokémon got separated from Dawn and the others, Piplup tried to help Marill, but Elekid seemed to gain the upper hand. When Team Rocket appeared and captured Marill, both Piplup and Elekid worked together to save her. Once Marill was saved, she decided to go with Elekid, leaving Piplup brokenhearted.

In Strategy Begins at Home!, Piplup was used alongside Pachirisu in a Double Battle against Johanna's Glameow and Umbreon. They started the battle by using a combination of Whirlpool and Discharge. However, the combination didn't last long as Johanna's Pokémon were able to gracefully dodge it with a double Quick Attack and destroy it with a double Shadow Ball. After that, Dawn had Piplup using BubbleBeam, but Glameow and Umbreon dodged once again. This was part of Dawn's plan, though, as BubbleBeam was meant to build a barrier of bubbles and hide Pachirisu. When Pachirisu came out from behind the barrier, it caught Glameow and Umbreon by surprise and attacked them with a spinning Super Fang. Johanna's Pokémon quickly fought back with a double Attract, infatuating both Pachirisu and Piplup before attacking them with a double Swift and knocking them out.

Piplup was used in the Appeals Round of the Lilypad Town Pokémon Contest in Dressed for Jess Success!. For his performance, he used Whirlpool and then Bide. His Whirlpool came straight down on him and joined forces with Bide, causing him to glow an intense blue from the energy reaction. His appeal was praised by the judges and allowed Dawn to advance to the Battle Round.

At the Grand Festival with Togekiss

In Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!, Piplup teamed up with Buneary to perform at the Daybreak Town Pokémon Contest, which was being held under the Double Performance rule. They finished a stunning performance by exploding the frozen bubbles and sending a shower of sparkles down to the crowd, assuring Dawn's progression to the next round.

As in the Wallace Cup, Piplup was used twice in the battling stage of the Sinnoh Grand Festival. In Coming Full-Festival Circle!, he was revealed to have helped Dawn in defeating her quarterfinal round opponent together with Pachirisu, thus allowing her to advance further in the competition. In A Grand Fight for Winning!, he went up against Zoey's Glameow and Gallade alongside Togekiss in the finals. Despite putting several of the techniques he perfected during his training sessions to good use and combining his moves with Togekiss's nicely, he was unable to bring Dawn the victory.

In Memories are Made of Bliss!, Piplup threw a tantrum and ran away from the group when he realized that Ash, Brock and Pikachu were leaving, since he couldn't accept the fact. However, Dawn and everyone else consoled him saying they would always be friends to the end.

In SS024, he was used to battle Johanna's Glameow and Umbreon alongside Cyndaquil. However, when they unleashed their Whirlpool-Flame Wheel combination, the battle had to be interrupted due to them fighting.

Unova

With his rival, Ash's Oshawott

Piplup came to Unova with Dawn prior to All for the Love of Meloetta!. In the following episode, he was able to reunite with Ash and meet Iris, Cilan, and his new object of affection—a Meloetta that had been following Ash's group since Virbank City. He also socialized with all the other Pokémon when they were brought out of their Poké Balls and found a rival in Ash's Oshawott, who had feelings for Meloetta, too. Later on, he had a battle with Cilan's Pansage, during which he used Drill Peck to send Pansage's Bullet Seed back at him. When the Grass Monkey Pokémon used Rock Tomb, he negated the move using a variation of Counter Shield. After that, Pansage used SolarBeam, but Piplup countered with Ice Beam. As the two beams collided, they rose into the sky and exploded, creating a beautiful fireworks display. This left Meloetta greatly impressed, causing it to disrupt the battle and start dancing with Piplup.

In Goodbye, Junior Cup - Hello Adventure!, Piplup grew sad when saying goodbye to Meloetta before leaving for Johto with Dawn. His rival Oshawott then confronted him one more time, but their contempt soon turned into sadness and they bid a teary farewell. After that, Piplup jumped onto the plane and departed.

Personality and characteristics

An angry Piplup

Piplup initially would not accept food from Dawn; as described in the Pokédex, Piplup are very proud and dislike accepting food from people. However, he seems to have a large appetite for Pokémon food and does not like having any taken away from him. He shows signs of having a short temper, frequently getting into disagreements with other Pokémon and his Trainer. One of his distinguishing traits is his tendency to lose it when things go wrong, such as when a Chimchar stole the last of his food in Following A Maiden's Voyage!, when he repeatedly missed out on eating a Berry and started a fight with a Shinx in The Rise of Darkrai, or when Dawn said Ash's Gible did not have ill intent when he was practicing his Draco Meteor in Piplup, Up and Away!.

Piplup is Dawn's main battling partner, being used more than any of her other Pokémon and having helped her win her first two ContestRibbons in the Sinnohregion. He seems to be very competitive and will always try to overcome the odds to impress Dawn and get her fullest attention. He often wants to be the first one to start an event for Dawn and commonly tries to peacefully talk to enemies, rather than just attacking them, as seen in The Psyduck Stops Here!.

In A Breed Stampede!, Piplup was shown to be quite adamant and overconfident. He even tried to stop Piloswine from charging. However, each attempt resulted with him being launched into the sky and knocked out. Despite this, he would get straight back up on his feet even when completely knocked out. He tried again when Piloswine had already evolved into Mamoswine, but the result was the same.

Bubble Sphere was used in A Grand Fight for Winning! it was the first attack made by Dawn, it starts off with Piplup using BubbleBeam and it forms into a circle and then Togekiss uses Aura Sphere in the middle of the circle. It is unknown what Dawn was going to do with this, because Zoey destroyed it with her Glameow and Gallade in a matter of seconds.

Aura Whirlpool was used in the final battle of the Sinnoh Grand Festival against Zoey. For the move, after Piplup launched a Whirlpool Togekiss would then fire an Aura Sphere inside, causing the Whirlpool to turn blue. Using this move, Piplup and Togekiss were able to successfully counter Glameow and Gallade's Signal-Tail combination.

Bubble-Swift Combination was a combination Dawn worked on during her time at home prior to SS024 it starts off with Piplup jumping on top of Cyndaquil and forming BubbleBeam into a circle then Cyndaquil uses Swift in the middle of the circle. It is unknown what Dawn was going to do with this, because Johanna destroyed it with her Glameow and Umbreon in a matter of seconds.

Flaming Whirlpool was a combination Dawn worked on during her time at home prior to SS024. For the combination, Piplup would cover a Flame Wheel created by Cyndaquil with a Whirlpool which created a sphere of water with fire inside. However, when Dawn attempted to use it during her practice battle against Johanna, the combination failed, throwing both Pokémon to the ground.

Big Bubble was a move Piplup used to fight off the Onix in Expedition to Onix Island!. Piplup used BubbleBeam but instead of multiple bubbles, it was one big bubble that surrounded Onix's head much like Water Pulse would. This caused a lot of damage and knocked the Onix out.

The Rise of Darkrai

He is first shown when Dawn sends her Pokémon out to play with several other Pokémon. Later, he is used in to battle against Darkrai alongside with Buizel but they are both defeated by the great power of the Dark-type Pokémon.

Moves used

A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

In the TCG

Dawn's Piplup is featured in the TCG as a Pokémon. The following is a list of related cards.

Dawn's PiplupCards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format.Cards listed with a silver background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.

The opening sequence of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl shows Dawn's Piplup coming out of his Poké Ball with a trail of stars behind him. However, Dawn did not use a star seal with Piplup's Poké Ball until Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!, three seasons later.

Dawn has been keeping Piplup outside of his Ball, instead of inside of it, much like Ash keeps his Pikachu, though Piplup never directly expressed that he did not like being inside of the Ball.

Piplup was unwilling to obey Dawn when they first met. Eventually, they became fast friends after Pikachu and Piplup saved their respective Trainers from an attacking group of Pokémon; Pikachu saved Ash from a flock of Spearow while Piplup saved Dawn from a swarm of Ariados.

Also, he has expressed reluctance to evolve and chose to stay in his base form for the time being, and Dawn was given an Everstone to prevent Piplup from evolving.

During an interview with former director and storyboard artist of the Pokémon anime, Masamitsu Hidaka, he revealed that Dawn's Piplup would likely not evolve very soon, referring to his evolutions as "ugly" or not good for Contests.